WASHINGTON - The federal shutdown has been good for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

In less than a month, the 42-year-old Houston Republican has raised his personal profile with a 21-hour anti-Obamacare speech and positioned himself as a go-between for House Speaker John Boehner to reach more than a dozen House conservatives who don't want to reopen the federal government without killing the Affordable Care Act. On Monday night, Cruz was seen meeting with more than a dozen House members in an attempt to derail a Senate compromise.

But many observers say Cruz's success has a steep price for other Republicans. Polls show the party is absorbing most of the blame for an unpopular shutdown that could undercut GOP fortunes in the 2014 midterm congressional elections and even for a presidential nominee in 2016.

"The case of Senator Cruz is a textbook example of an instance where actions that further the individual interests of an individual politician simultaneously harm the collective interests of their party," said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston. "The only question now is the extent of damage that has occurred to the Republican Party's image."

One-man machine

To be sure, Cruz revived the GOP's frustrated campaign to target Obama­care after more than 40 unsuccessful House votes to repeal the sweeping health insurance overhaul, which is President Barack Obama's signature domestic accomplishment.

Cruz's 21-hour Senate floor speech Sept. 25 came as House Republicans, at his urging, prepared a measure making funding for the federal government after Oct. 1 contingent on defunding the health care initiative. The current shutdown was the result.

Cruz stayed in the limelight with round-robin appearances on television coupled with well-timed jousting on the Senate floor with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Cruz also engaged in acts of political theater, such as escorting Texas veterans into the allegedly closed World War II memorial on the National Mall when in fact it was open to most visiting veterans.

And in a rare bypass-the-leadership maneuver, Cruz has repeatedly crossed the Capitol to coordinate legislative strategy with tea party-backed House lawmakers who share uncompromising opposition to Obamacare.

On Tuesday, he huddled with such members at Tortilla Coast, a Tex-Mex café on Capitol Hill, as the House and Senate considered rival plans to reopen the government and avoid default on the nation's debt. Cruz has held regular meetings with the group since the shutdown 15 days ago, his spokeswoman said. The senator declined to speak about strategy or hypothetical situations.

"The senator will continue working to ensure all Americans receive meaningful relief from Obamacare, that's the goal," said Catherine Frazier.

Polls have him ahead

Nationwide polls now show Cruz leading among prospective 2016 GOP presidential nominees. A survey by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling found Cruz leapfrogging from fifth place last summer to first place, with the support of 20 percent of GOP respondents.

Cruz got a symbolic boost last Saturday by handily winning the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit straw poll with 42 percent of the vote. That was triple the 13 percent showing by each of the two nearest competitors, former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and famed neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, a Fox News contributor.

In another indication he is on a roll, fundraising by The Ted Cruz Victory Committee; Ted Cruz for Senate; and Jobs, Growth & Freedom Fund, his leadership political action committee, has skyrocketed. The groups raised $1.19 million in the third quarter for a total of $2.67 million this year, a Cruz spokesman said Tuesday.

Activists said Cruz's break-the-mold approach is welcomed by his political base.

"He really doesn't owe anybody in this town anything," says Adam Brandon, with the conservative political action group FreedomWorks. Cruz's meteoric popularity has "stirred jealousy among politicians wedded to the old power structure," Brandon adds. "At some point they'll realize they're hanging out with dinosaurs who are watching the mammals take over."

Yet polls show Republicans in Congress are suffering a surge in disapproval. In the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey, 70 percent of respondents disapproved of Republicans' actions compared to 24 percent that approved. Democrats face less public antipathy, with 59 percent of respondents disapproving of Democrats' actions in Congress compared to 36 percent that voiced approval.

Overall, the public blames Republicans more than President Obama for the shutdown, 53 percent to 31 percent.

But Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, hails Cruz's leadership. "Certainly, the battle over implementation of Obamacare and Senator Cruz's efforts to shine a bright light on its problems have raised his profile," said Olson, who dismissed suggestions that Cruz's strategy might cost the GOP in upcoming congressional elections.

"Republicans have been forthright in our promise to do all that we can to repeal or defund Obamacare. The voters will have their say next November."